TFC Calculator: UK Childcare
Tax-free top-up & cap tracker
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Independent, not HMRC. Work out what to pay into your childcare account and see the £500 top-up each child has left. One payment removes the adverts, no subscription.
Tax-Free Childcare adds £500 of government top-up per child every 3 months, and each child's 3 months start on their own date. TFC Calculator keeps a running total for every child, so you know what to pay in before you pay it.
IMPORTANT: TFC Calculator is an independent app from Chewy Bytes Limited. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, HMRC, GOV.UK or the UK Government. For official information visit https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare
HOW IT WORKS
1. Add each child with their date of birth, the start of their current eligibility period and any top-up they have already had in it. Use the period start shown in your childcare account, not the date you last reconfirmed.
2. Type in what the childcare costs.
3. See straight away what you pay in, what the government adds and how much top-up that child has left this period.
When an eligibility period ends the app says so and asks for the new start date, instead of carrying on with figures that no longer apply.
The app opens with an example child and one example payment, so you can see the maths before adding your own.
THE RULES IT FOLLOWS
The government adds 25p for every £1 you pay in, which is 20% of the total childcare bill, up to £500 per child every 3 months. TFC Calculator works to those published rules and shows what makes up each figure, so you can check it against your own account.
WHY AN APP AND NOT A WEB CALCULATOR
A web page can do the sum once. It cannot remember anything.
- Every child is tracked separately. Periods rarely start on the same date, so one child can be close to their limit while another has plenty left.
- Your running total carries between payments, so you always know what is left of the £500.
- You can see how many days are left in the period.
- Once a child's limit is used up, the app shows you paying the rest yourself, instead of promising a top-up that will not arrive.
- Children who qualify for the higher disabled rate get £1,000 every 3 months, and stay eligible for longer.
WHAT YOU GET
- Enter the total childcare cost and see your contribution, the government top-up and the top-up remaining.
- Several children, each with their own date of birth, period start and limit.
- A record of the payments you confirm in the current period, with an optional note on each one.
- CSV export of every child and every payment recorded, through the normal iOS share sheet.
- Days remaining in the period, and a prompt when a period start needs checking.
YOUR RECORDS STAY ON YOUR PHONE
There is no account and no sign-in, and everything you enter is stored on your device. Your children's names, their dates of birth and your payment notes are never sent anywhere. The app never connects to your childcare account and never moves money. It does send anonymous usage and crash statistics, such as a child's age in years and the amounts calculated, never a name, so faults can be found and fixed, and the adverts are supplied by Google. The full list is in the privacy policy.
WHO IT IS FOR
- Parents and carers using the UK Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
- Families with more than one child in the scheme, on periods that start on different dates.
- Anyone wondering how much more they can pay in before this period resets.
This is for Tax-Free Childcare, the account where the government adds £2 for every £8 you pay in. It is not Child Benefit and it does not work out the funded childcare hours.
FREE, WITH ADVERTS
Every calculation in the app is free. Adverts pay for it: a banner on the calculator and settings screens, and one full-screen advert before a CSV export. One optional purchase removes them for good. It is a single payment, not a subscription, and it unlocks nothing: every feature is identical either way.
Guide only — check your childcare account and GOV.UK for final figures.
Support: https://tfccalculator.co.uk/support
Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Privacy Policy: https://www.tfccalculator.co.uk/privacy
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
ONE PURCHASE, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION
Removing the adverts is now a single one-off purchase. Buy it once and the banner adverts, and the full-screen advert before an export, are gone for good. The monthly and yearly subscriptions have been retired.
CLEARER WORDING
The app now talks about your eligibility period, the 3 months from the start date you enter, rather than a calendar quarter.
STILL FREE
Working out the 25p the government adds for every £1 you pay in, tracking the £500 limit per child per eligibility period (£1,000 if the child meets the disabled-child rules), payment history and CSV export are free for everyone, adverts or not.
Thanks for using TFC Calculator. If something looks wrong, please get in touch at https://tfccalculator.co.uk/support
The developer, Chewy Bytes Limited, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Used to Track You
The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:
- Location
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Location
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
- Purchases
- Financial Info
- Diagnostics
- Other Data
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Chewy Bytes Limited
- Size
- 70 MB
- Category
- Finance
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 16.4 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 16.4 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 16.4 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Contains
Advertising
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Remove Adverts for Good $4.99
- Premium Monthly $1.99
- Premium Yearly $12.99
- Copyright
- © 2025 Chewy Bytes Limited